Posted by : Anonymous on Jun 18, 2004 - 11:52 AM General

Sprint Corp. today said the company will lay off 1,100 more employees, cutting jobs from its long-distance operations. About half of the layoffs will be in the Kansas City area. Employees will be notified by mid-July and receive severance and employment assistance. Howard Janzen, president of Sprint Business Solutions, said the layoffs are necessary to keep the Overland Park-based telecommunications company competitive.
AT&T Corp. and MCI, the No. 1 and No. 2 long-distance companies, currently are battling for corporate long-distance accounts. AT&T last year said the company would win customers at any price.

MCI recently sent letters to some AT&T business customers offering to undercut its competitor by 40 percent.

Add the regional Bell companies, which now can offer long-distance service to corporate customers, and smaller long-distance competitors and you have "a hyper-competitive industry," Jansen said.

Janzen said the cuts are possible without affecting service to current customers because Sprint has been working to streamline its operations.

"Since announcing our new structure last fall, we have worked hard to reduce costs and improve our processes," Janzen said. "This action reflects these ongoing efforts to deploy our resources in a manner that maximizes value for our customers and our shareholders."

The job action announced today is the second large layoff in less than two weeks for Sprint.

Earlier this month, Sprint announced plans to close a call center in suburban Chicago, eliminating 1,000 jobs.

In announcing the layoffs, Sprint also reaffirmed its earlier financial projections for 2004. The company expects to earn 70 to 75 cents per share for the year, and generate about $1.8 billion in free cash flow.

Sprint said the company will offset lower-than-expected long-distance sales with stronger sales from its wireless division.

"This is not a company in trouble laying off people," Janzen said. "This is a company that is doing what is right to make sure we remain competitive."

Of the total, 850 employees will be cut from Sprint's business solutions division and 250 other jobs will be administrative and information technology jobs that support the business solutions group.

With the layoffs announced today, Sprint will have eliminated more than 4,900 jobs since Jan. 1. The company has eliminated more than 24,000 jobs since October, 2001.

The announcement was made before the market opened. In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Spring were down 5 cents at $17.82.

To reach David Hayes, senior technology writer at The Star, call (816) 234-4904 or send e-mail to dhayes@kcstar.com

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